Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Aggressive pour yields a deep brown opaque body with garnet highlights and a fleeting quarter inch mocha/tawny head that leaves just a ring of foam and a half pool on the surface.

Aroma is heavily chocolate, with vanilla and oak leading to roast malt initially. Coffee and bourbon are evident in subsequent smells. Very complex. As it warms, nutty notes and alcohol-laced prunes and figs emerge. I could smell this all day. Soy and dark cherries join the party late, adding complexity.

Coffee dominates the flavor initially and carries throughout the profile, becoming acrid only momentarily. Further investigation reveals esters of tart dark cherries, and an almost port-like character, which covers the acrid coffee flavor nicely. Dark chocolate and roast malt carry into the slightly dry finish, which ends with oak. An underpinning of vanilla and bourbon really adds intrigue.

Body is a tad on the worty side, a little thin, with fairly low carbonation. There's significant alcohol warmth, which is borderline fusel.

Excellent beer. Lucked out to find this at the growler station. Very complex. Wish I had a bottle to age. If the dark cherry and port/acrid coffee flavoring diminished a bit, this would be even better. It just dominates a bit too much. (1,260 characters)

Beer pours a very dark brown, which you can peek through on the edges, but otherwise quite dark with a nice, light tannish head. The nose is very mild coffee and, well, all about the barrel. Big oak and bourbon - not hot by any means. Very nice. The taste of this beer is mild coffee, something underneath that tastes like a big brown ale/stout combo a lot of wood and an extremely satisfying, balanced bourbon flavor. This beer is extremely well balanced, but is not so when overly cold. I recommend letting sit out for a fair while before taking it down because it seems almost overly tannic (which is either the barrels, a slight bit of green in the coffee, or both) when cold, which settles nicely in with the beer as it warms. The body of this beer is like a big brown ale, or a thin imperial stout. Carbonation is a little low (growler filled today, no bottom fill), but I think it's fine. Overall, I think this is the best beer that has been brewed in Cincinnati that I have had that has nothing to do with the Rivertown Lambic program, nor involving accidental souring ;). It's extremely drinkable, and really, if the slight emergence of green coffee/tannic barrel flavor wasn't there, it would be smooth as silk. As is, this highlights the impressive barrel access that the Party Source folks have. I've gotten growler fills 3 separate times now and honestly, as an avid trader with a larger cellar who moved here around a year ago, I had previously largely dismissed the Cincinnati craft beer scene (other than what was mentioned above). It reminds me of Peruvian Morning a bit, but instead of low key bourbon barrels and big coffee, its big bourbon barrel and low key coffee. But in how drinkable it is and in its body, I am reminded.

So, if you live in the city, get over to Party Source and get yourself a fill. ...and tell them this was really good and they should bring it back. (2,004 characters)

A: Pitch black, great looking tan head.S: complex as a mo fo! Bourbon, smoke, oak, coffee and chocolate. Freaking outstanding.T: the warmer the better. The nuances really jump out. Sweet bourbon and vanilla notes blend with coffee and bourbon to prodouce something the Gods would be jealous of.M: not as thick as one would think. Decent carbonation and a tremendous hang...leaves you wanting another sip.O: If you see it, buy it. Complex, tasty, well crafted and the peefect sipper for the winter months. Quaff has done it again. (533 characters)